Red Bull Gives You PR Wings

Funny story...last Summer while stranded in an airport returning home from a business trip, it occurred to me that over the week  I'd spent a lot of money on Red Bull energy drinks.  Red Bulls are about $2/each and that can add up.  In my sleep deprived state of mind I thought that if Red Bull would sponsor our PR firm then I'd save a lot of money.  So I wrote a pitch outlining why Red Bull should sponsor Voce.  We travel all over the country on business trips that include the biggest name is media, we are the largest conferences, and clients/journalists/influencers are in and out of our office.  We are a hub of visibility.  We'll slap a few Red Bull patches on our Voce laptop bags and they can fill up the fridge with their magic potion.  Sounds like a fair trade to me.

I'm sure there was a heated debate in a corner office at Red Bull HQ and someone fought hard for our cause, but it turns out that Red Bull will keep its sponsorship dollars focused on acrobatic pilots, extreme skiers and other athletes and causes.  Not sure I agree but...

The good folks at Red Bull did agree to send their street team to Voce this afternoon to juice us up on some Red Bulls and show off the prized Red Bull Mini Cooper.  We had fun and learned a few things along the way.

Red Bull began in Austria around 1986.  The founder is in his 70s and slams many a Red Bull each day.  Apparently there are no long term affects - that have been discovered...in Austria.  Red Bull is a great example of a successful word of mouth campaign.  The first two introductions in the U.S. were Lake Tahoe, CA and Santa Cruz, CA around 1996.  I remember a lot of skiers in the late 90s ordering a new drink called a Red Bull/Vodka trying to figure out how to handle a buzz with a rush of energy.  The first case of Red Bull was sold off the back of a truck in Santa Cruz.  Not a bad campaign that ignited a craze in North America and created a dozen or more energy drink copycats.

We had fun today with the Red Bull crew and I guarantee you that productivity notched up quite a bit during the late afternoon/evening hours.  Thanks, Red Bull!